Software:Letterpress (video game)

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Short description: 2012 word game
Letterpress
An overlapped red square is behind an askew blue square.
App icon
Developer(s)Loren Brichter
Publisher(s)atebits, Solebon LLC[lower-alpha 1]
Designer(s)
  • Loren Brichter
  • Jean Whitehead
Programmer(s)Loren Brichter
Artist(s)Loren Brichter
EngineOpenGL
Platform(s)iOS, OS X, Android
Release
Genre(s)Word game, turn-based strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Letterpress is a 2012 turn-based word game developed by Loren Brichter and published by atebits. In the game, two players take turns creating words to cover the most territory. Brichter based the game design on Boggle, color wars, and SpellTower. The gameplay gradually evolved during beta testing; in the prototype, players would stall games by avoiding remaining tiles on the board.

Letterpress was released in October 2012 for iOS. Under Solebon LLC, the game was released in July 2016 for the Mac App Store and in August 2017 for Google Play. While it was praised for its design and strategic gameplay, it was criticized for not having a single-player mode. Letterpress was ranked second place in the App Store's Best of 2012 list and won the 2013 Apple Design Awards.

Gameplay

Template:Multimage In Letterpress, two players compete to own the most tiles on a grid with 25 letters.[1] Players must assemble a valid word; they cannot reuse or create words from the same word family.[2][3] When a player finishes their turn, their selected letters change into their color.[1][2][4] If a player's tiles surround a letter, the opponent cannot claim it, and the surrounded tiles become a different shade.[5] Players may choose to pass a turn. Once every square is occupied, or if both players pass their turns in the same round, the player that owns the most tiles wins.[2][5]

Development and release

After leaving Twitter, Inc. in November 2011, Loren Brichter, the founder of Atebits 2.0,[lower-alpha 2] began finishing side projects that he had little time to work on.[7][8] He had previously created Tweetie and the pull-to-refresh function.[8] After playing Zach Gage's iOS game SpellTower together, he and his wife, Jean Whitehead, were inspired to develop a multiplayer word game.[7][8][9] Focused on combining color and words,[8] Brichter cited Boggle and color wars as influences for the gameplay.[7]

Whitehead was the first beta tester and helped to refine the game's rules. In the first version of Letterpress, players could indiscriminately create long words, as tiles would only turn into the player's color.[9] He incorporated a feature that gave players bonus points for surrounding tiles.[7] However, Brichter realized that players would avoid remaining tiles; to fix this, he made surrounding tiles unclaimable.[7] For the graphics and user interface, he took inspiration from the Windows Phone.[9] The game was written in OpenGL, and Game Center handled the multiplayer matchmaking service.[9] He developed the sound effects by spitting in his microphone and determined the name based on what the player did: pressing letters.[9]

Brichter marketed the game as freemium and chose screenshots of Letterpress to promote it on the App Store.[9] The game was released for iOS on October 24, 2012,[10] and on that day, it was downloaded over 60,000 times.[8] In the free version, players could only compete in two games at once.[11] In December 2012, Letterpress was updated with a replay feature.[12] After Solebon LLC bought Atebits 2.0, the game was released on the Mac App Store on July 20, 2016,[13] and on Google Play on August 25, 2017.[14]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic89/100[15]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Gamezebo90/100[3]
Pocket Gamer4.5/5[16]
TouchArcade4.5/5[5]
Paste8.9/10[1]

Letterpress has a "generally favorable" Metacritic rating based on eight critics.[15]

Reviewers found the strategic elements of Letterpress captivating. Although TouchArcade's Jared Nelson commented that the gameplay was challenging to explain, he explained that players would become addicted once they had mastered the rules.[5] Lex Friedman of Macworld and AJ Dellinger of Gamezebo shared similar views, writing that Letterpress is "alarmingly addictive"[2] and would fit with "word nerds and strategy-oriented thinkers" respectively.[3] Pocket Gamer's Harry Slater compared the gameplay to chess, praised the suspense of a player waiting for their opponent's next move, and wrote that Letterpress is "asynchronous gaming at its finest".[16] Some criticized the absence of a single-player mode.[3][5][11] While Luke Larsen of Paste magazine concluded that Letterpress is an "incredible achievement", he shared that Game Center may interfere with player statistics and matchmaking.[1]

Critics praised the design of Letterpress. Nelson called the graphics "aesthetically pleasing",[5] and Dellinger said that the game had "zero clutter".[3] Nelson enjoyed the game's "minimalist style and smooth animation", which he compared to the productivity app Clear.[5] Larsen complimented Brichter and stated that it had "pretty menus" and "smart aesthetic choices",[1] and Friedman noticed and praised details, including the sound effects and user interface.[2] Ranking the game as a "must have", Chris Reed of Slide to Play said that Letterpress is a "gorgeous example of minimalist design".[11] Apple took inspiration from minimalistic apps, including Letterpress, when designing iOS 7.[17]

Letterpress was featured in the App Store's Best of 2012 list, ranking second place as the game of the year for iPhone.[18] It was nominated at the Worldwide Developers Conference and won the 2013 Apple Design Awards.[4][19]

See also

Note: This topic belongs to "2010s" portal

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ Solebon published the Mac and Android ports.
  2. ↑ The previous Atebits was acquired by Twitter, Inc. in 2010.[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Larsen, Luke (November 5, 2012). "Mobile Game of the Week: Letterpress (iOS)". Paste. https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/mobile-game/mobile-game-of-the-week-letterpress-ios. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Friedman, Lex (October 24, 2012). "Review: Letterpress is an excellent iOS word game". Macworld. https://www.macworld.com/article/219485. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Dellinger, AJ (October 29, 2012). "Letterpress Review". Gamezebo. https://www.gamezebo.com/reviews/letterpress-review/. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "This year's winners". https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/events/awards/. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Nelson, Jared (October 24, 2012). "Letterpress – Word Game Review – Simple And Awesome". TouchArcade. https://toucharcade.com/2012/10/24/letterpress-word-game-review-simple-and-awesome/. 
  6. ↑ Miller, Claire Cain (April 9, 2010). "Twitter Acquires Atebits, Maker of Tweetie". Bits (The New York Times). https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/twitter-acquires-atebits-maker-of-tweetie/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Brichter, Loren (October 24, 2012). "Loren Brichter talks Letterpress for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad". YouTube (Interview). Interviewed by Rene Ritchie. Archived from the original on November 16, 2023. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Wortham, Jenna (October 25, 2012). "Letterpress, Game From the Creator of Tweetie, Lifts Off". Bits (The New York Times). https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/letterpress-a-game-from-the-creator-of-tweetie-lifts-off/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Brichter, Loren (October 24, 2012). "A Conversation With Loren Brichter". MacStories (Interview). Interviewed by Federico Viticci. Archived from the original on July 20, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  10. ↑ Wehner, Mike (October 24, 2012). "atebits releases Letterpress for iPhone". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2012-10-24-atebits-releases-letterpress-for-iphone.html. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Reed, Chris (October 26, 2012). "Letterpress – Word Game Review". Slide to Play. http://www.slidetoplay.com/review/letterpress-word-game-review/. 
  12. ↑ Nelson, Jared (December 19, 2012). "Letterpress – Word Game Gets Awesome Replay Feature in Latest Update". TouchArcade. https://toucharcade.com/2012/12/19/letterpress-word-game-gets-awesome-replay-feature-in-latest-update/. 
  13. ↑ Hall, Zac (July 20, 2016). "Letterpress word game lands on the Mac as Skype drops support for older OS X versions". 9to5Mac. https://9to5mac.com/2016/07/20/letterpress-word-game-mac-skype-legacy-os-x-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Letterpress – Word Game". https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.solebon.letterpress&hl=en_US&gl=US. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Letterpress – Word Game". https://www.metacritic.com/game/letterpress-word-game/critic-reviews/?platform=ios-iphoneipad. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Slater, Harry (October 27, 2012). "Letterpress". Pocket Gamer. https://www.pocketgamer.com/letterpress/letterpress/. 
  17. ↑ Newton, Casey (October 9, 2013). "Taskmasters: how Israeli intelligence officers helped inspire the look of iOS 7". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2013/10/9/4817146/taskmasters-how-israeli-intelligence-officers-helped-inspire-the-look-of-ios-7. 
  18. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (December 13, 2012). "App Store names its 'Best of 2012' games for iPhone and iPad". Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/2012/12/13/3765266/app-store-names-best-of-2012-games-for-iphone-and-ipad. 
  19. ↑ McElroy, Griffin (June 12, 2013). "Ridiculous Fishing, Letterpress and more take home Apple Design Awards". Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/12/4423292/ridiculous-fishing-letterpress-and-more-take-home-apple-design-awards. 

External links



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